


Are You Sleeping?

by Surly_Sour



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-09-18
Packaged: 2020-10-21 07:55:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20690093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Surly_Sour/pseuds/Surly_Sour
Summary: I said at one point that I wanted Duusu driving Gabriel nuts because they wanted to check in on Ms. Nathalie in the middle of the night.  Especially after watching the Ladybug episode - so I wrote the damn thing.  Enjoy.





	Are You Sleeping?

“Are you still sleeping?”

A moment ago he had been asleep, he was sure of it, he was also sure something small had hit his forehead. 

Several times.

There was a sound at the side of his bed, something soft but abrupt enough for his paranoia to respond. It wasn’t Nooroo, this voice wasn’t soft and careful, it was bright obnoxious cheer that instinctively left one wanting to scowl in response. 

Duusu.

“Can we call Ms. Nathalie if you’re not?” 

A long time ago, Gabriel had found himself in the same situation - a long night with an anxious Adrien and his wife somewhere on the other side of the world. Small hands tugging on sheets and blankets in the middle of the night, their child refusing to sleep until he was sure his mother had safely arrived. 

Far happier times but still Gabriel had fought his own sleep with determination, unable to settle in his own bed - reluctant until exhaustion finally won the battle.

Apparently Adrien had been in the same spirits that night, counting the hours in bed before risking the chance to sneak into his father’s bedroom - asking if it was close enough in time differences to call his mother and make sure she had arrived safely. 

And for her to know that he missed her, even if she had just left that morning.

But this time there was no nanny escaping golden haired boy stationed at the side of his bed, hopeful that he had finally gotten the differences in their time-zones correct and had woken his father up at a good time. 

_ Small Children and Small Gods both need to be handled carefully. _

And Duusu wasn’t going anywhere without an answer judging by the soft muttering over hitting him again. He cracked an eye open, staring at the vague blue blob that faintly glowed in the dark of his bedroom, that undoubtedly had been watching him for however long he had been sleeping -

“Duusu, there is no point in calling her. She is sleeping -” _ I should be as well. _

It made no move to return to the distractions Nathalie had left it or back to the brooch atop his dresser. In fact, the small blue creature continued to stare at him until he put his glasses back on, still wringing tiny paws as they came into focus. “But Ms. Nathalie likes to say she’s going to sleep and then she doesn’t. What if she isn’t resting?”

“...what?” Of course she would be resting, she had been practically asleep on her feet when she had made the argument against setting up a bag and staying in one of the guest rooms. The same argument she had made the last time he had approached the subject after she had started to show signs of fatigue from the peacock brooch. 

_ It's better to act as though nothing has changed. Sooner or later someone will notice if I stay. The paparazzi, the day-staff, Adrien - and if someone notices Gabriel Agreste’s assistant is spending nights at his home during a time that isn’t Fashion Week - someone else will talk. _

Because that’s what Nathalie did, she thought of these possibilities, she made sure things continued to run smoothly and that no one talked that Gabriel himself did not want to talk to. 

Reasonable, cautious and frustratingly stubborn. They both were. To hell with the excuses, she had stayed overnight without a single concern before. He didn’t need his miraculous to know the feelings that she was fighting so hard to quash, if anything her actions had only confirmed his need to be concerned. If she hadn’t been in such a delicate condition he would have taken her by the shoulders and shaken her - because someone was going to talk if she got worse. Because now a physician was involved and people were already asking questions. Even Adrian’s Bodyguard had tried by way of note on desk to push him into giving Nathalie time off, even he could see she wasn’t herself. 

She hadn’t been for a while. 

And Adrien… Maybe Adrien had noticed more than he had first suspected, maybe Adrien would begin to realize it wasn’t simple coincidence. 

He shoved that thought back down, it wouldn’t matter - as soon as he succeeded in his plan Adrien would have his mother back and everything would be fine once more. 

The tiny kwami was still babbling, he almost hoped the damn thing would talk itself into a circle and decide that Ms. Nathalie didn’t require a checking upon after-all.

_ Let people talk, they certainly did enough of it instead of their actual jobs. _

But more people would talk if she suddenly went missing like Emilie had - and he couldn’t have the same thing happen again. Not only because of the difficulties such a thing would bring upon his mission. Because he couldn’t stand by and allow her to do this to herself anymore.

Because…

That didn't matter.

She had given back the brooch willingly this time.

He still didn’t want to consider what would have happened to her had he not arrived in time as Hawkmoth. What he would have done if he hadn’t reached her before Chat Noir did. 

“I’m not going to call her, Duusu. Go back to your Miraculous. You can check Nathalie yourself when she ignores my orders to take time off and still comes in to review the planner with Adrien in the morning.” 

“But what if she doesn’t come in?” The Kwami twisted in the air, “I think it still would be nice to check on her -”

“If she’s planning to stay home she will still text me long before breakfast is even prepared. " He wasn't going to call his assistant in the middle of the night to make sure she was in bed. If she wanted to continue to ignore her health for the sake of his approval that was her own problem - it wasn’t his place to worry over her further. “I don’t need to call her, she is fine.” 

And yet the damnable little creature wasn’t budging, tail fanned and feathers fluffed, as though it was ready to make this the hill to die upon by dragging those worries back out of him for further review.

Where was Nooroo? No doubt hiding in his own Miraculous.

“But -” He knew that tone, he had heard it enough in his own thoughts as of late. _ What if she doesn’t text or call or even come in today - what if she isn’t fine? _

_ What if she doesn’t have a good time at her photoshoot because she didn’t hear that we missed her, and it made her sad and everyone else gets sad and her trip was ruined - it would be our fault! _Came the echoing plea of a little boy from the past.

“Than _ I _ will call her _ in the morning. _Which, it currently is _ not.” _Came his answer - he could feel his calm beginning to slip - but this wasn’t Adrien and Nathalie wasn’t his wife. And he was sitting in his bed, trying very hard not to fall into the trap of explaining the loyalties to a spouse versus an employee to a creature that had no doubt seen multiple civilizations form and crumble during its existence. Because no doubt it would counter that she was not just an employee to him, not after everything she had done, and they would continue on with this nonsense until the next collapse of civilization. 

He could be sleeping right now. No doubt Nathalie was sleeping as well because -

The clock finally caught his eye. 

_ It was almost 3 AM. _He let out a slow hard breath through his nose, trying to ignore the dull roar that sounded in his ears of a rising blood pressure. Trying so hard to keep a firm grip on a temper that would have had him cursing and railing at this small creature for all it had done to his life; it’s wrath be damned. Let it hate him, it obviously preferred Nathalie even if it was slowly killing her in the process - 

He couldn’t even remember if Duusu had held the same fondness for his wife, perhaps it had, but those memories were dangerous, even if he had gone over them a thousand times. Still, how did Nathalie manage to get this blasted creature’s loyalty so quickly? _ For the same reason you kept her close for so long, because of her potential. No, that was a lie and you know it. Because it came about slowly, and by the time you noticed you didn’t want it to leave again and if the situation had been different - _

Staring angrily at the damaged little creature did nothing, it’s tiny features remained passive as it stared back at him, well aware of what he felt. 

It simply didn’t care. 

He didn’t even need to look at his phone, it was quickly snatched up from the bedside table and in two brief flicks it was already ringing on speaker.

One. Two. He would quite possibly throw the phone across the room if it went to voicemail. Three. The damnable little kwami was smiling now. It’s triumph being the sounds of Nathalie’s bleary confusion as the call was answered, “...Sir? Is Adrien alright? Are you… It’s… it's 2:45 in the morning. What’s wrong?”

Gabriel closed his eyes, smiling faintly at the unexpected wash of relief at the sound of her voice. _ Another day. _

“Tell Duusu you’re fine, Nathalie.” 

_ Please. _


End file.
